High Costs At India's Xerox Stores hitting Students Hard

[Anonymous]

<p><strong><font size=”5″>High Costs At India’s Xerox Stores hitting Students Hard   </font></strong></p>
<p><font size=”4″><strong> Photocopying to hit students real hard</strong></font><br />
<font size=”4″>Single copy to cost Rs 2 each; bulk orders will go up from 35p apiece to anything between 75p & Rs 1<br />
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<p><font size=”4″>Owners of photocopy shops, popularly known as Xerox Stores, have decided to double the cost of a photocopy – from Re 1 to Rs 2. However, bulk orders will go up from 35 paise to anything between 75 paise and Re 1. </font></p>
<div><font size=”4″>The newly-formed Bangalore Photocopier Owners’ Welfare Association has pasted posters at all photocopy shops and is issuing pamphlets. The poster compares the price of photocopying in 1988 and 2012. Paper bundle (comprising 500 sheets) was sold at Rs 40 in 1988, but it now costs Rs 150. A kg of toner used to cost Rs 50 in 1988, but it now sells at Rs 1,200. Electricity, which was Re 1 per unit, has now touched Rs 7, while fuel price in the range of Rs 21 is hovering at around Rs 74.</font></div>
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<div><font size=”4″>And yet, a photocopy used to cost Re 1 in 1988, but now costs 35 paise, claimed the association. The poster even asks customers to call the association in case they had doubts.</font></div>
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<div><font size=”4″>Shop-owners have wanted to hike prices for a long time, but couldn’t because of the nature of the market they operate in. An oligopoly market means a small number of sellers whose every action affects others. So, if one shop hiked the price, another would automatically reduce prices. Since no one wanted to lose customers, the prices were never raised.</font></div>
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<div><font size=”4″>However, the new association has made the hike mandatory for all members.</font></div>
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<div><font size=”4″>“We have around 2,800 photocopier shops under the banner and it will be binding on everyone to hike prices,” association member Venkatesh told Bangalore Mirror, adding that the new association was formed since the one started in 1987 was not active.</font></div>
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<div><font size=”4″>“I clearly remember I used to pay Rs 2 for a cup of coffee in 1988, but the same cup of coffee costs not less than Rs 12. I do not understand why we did not hike prices,” Venkatesh said.</font></div>
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<div><font size=”4″>Association president Mallesh, who has been in this business since 1985, said, “Every time there is a fuel price hike, the paper bundle cost goes up by Rs 5 and it is common to see a hike in power tariff every year. However, we cannot hike prices every time.”</font></div>
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<div><font size=”4″><strong>Students affected</strong></font></div>
<div><font size=”4″>Though the hike will be by a few paise, it will hit the student community hard. In fact, it was the students who had driven these photocopy shops to go for ‘near kill’ prices. Due to the high cost of books, many of them chose to head to photocopy shops. They demanded a discount since they were photocopying more than hundreds of sheets. This was when rates like 30 paise or 35 paise of bulk photocopying created a wave in the city. It was also when people would travel from far and stand for hours in queue to get photocopies. </font></div>
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<p><font size=”4″>But students will feel the pinch and shop-owners are making it clear that requests for discounts will not be entertained. Achyut Kumar, a final year engineering student, said, “I am sure most engineering students spend a considerable time at photocopy shops. From notes to textbooks, we go for photocopying as it is cost effective. We will feel the burden as we do not have any other option.” <br />
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<em><span style=”color: rgb(128, 0, 0);”><strong>BUY OR COPY?<br />
</strong></span>Bangalore Photocopier Owners’ Welfare Association member Venkatesh said it was not right on the part of a few publishers to target photocopyshops fo copyright violations. He said they were not photocopying the entire book but were helping students instead. Reacting to this, a book seller said, “Imported engineering and  medical books used to cost around Rs 5,000. The cost was brought down to Rs 500 for Indian students. But students are not willing to pay even this. Therefore, colleges and photocopy shops have set up assembly lines to mass produce spurious copies at less than Rs 200.” Venkatesh said that it was time for all stake-holders to sit and discuss the issue amicably.<br />
</em><span style=”color: rgb(128, 0, 0);”><strong>Photocopy used to cost Rs 1 in 1988, but now costs 35 paise</strong></span></font></p>
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[Author]

January 10, 2013 at 8:32 AM